by Wilson Harp
Sentack went back to help Burling. K-man turned back to the door way and saw that most of his men had gone through. Lippor and Watkins were waving him forward from the opening.
K-man stepped through the door when the flames rushed in behind him. Screams from the men behind him buffeted his ears through his comm unit as he was swept up in the fiery tempest. The door slammed shut as K-man spun around to go help his troops.
“Who the hell shut the door?” K-man yelled.
Watkins was standing next to the door panel. He held his hands up and took a step back.
“I didn’t touch it, sir,” he said.
“Reynolds, we just had them torch a section. We lost Burling and our squad gun.”
“Good to hear you are alive, they blew a hole in their own skin,” Reynolds said. “The Platte has taken some serious damage. We can’t get another scooter over to your area. The rest of alpha is under heavy fire and the breach has you cut off. You will need to try to meet up with bravo.”
K-man looked at the men who had rushed into the corridor. There were ten, including himself.
“How is the debarkation room?” K-man asked. “Did they seal it up in time?”
“No, sir.” Reynolds said. “Manning is reporting that all hands were lost in the debarkation room.
K-man shut his eyes and tried not to get sick. There were twelve engineers and almost forty of his men still in the debarkation room.
“Reynolds, are the Otina trying to escape?” he asked.
“We have dozens of small escape vessels launching from all over the ship and station,” Reynolds said. “A steady stream.”
“Roger, we will move toward bravo and try to connect.”
“Sending them your position now, alpha,” Reynolds said.
K-man motioned his men away from the door they had scrambled through.
“God, Lippor, you saved our lives,” said Sanders.
“Kill the chatter,” K-man said. “We can give high fives and toasts later.”
Still, he patted Lippor on the shoulder as he moved toward the front of the group.
“We don’t have much in the way of penetration, sir,” Watkins said.
K-man knew that Burling had been carrying the majority of C-4 that the team had been assigned. It would be difficult, if not impossible, to breach a door that was locked.
“We’ll just have to keep scrambling,” K-man said. “Don’t let ourselves get cornered.”
“I suggest dropping down a deck or two so we don’t tempt them to burn us out again,” Lippor said.
K-man nodded. It was a good idea.
“Sir, what’s to keep them from just blowing the ship?” Roberts asked.
“Their leader is on board. If we can keep him from getting off, they won’t blow the ship. If he gets to an escape pod, they probably will,” K-man said. “So that should encourage us to move.”
“Down here, sir,” Watkins was standing at a narrow stairway.
“Looks like it goes down at least four decks. And it’s in the direction of the bridge,” the scout said. “If they were right about where the bridge is,” he added.
K-man started down the stairs but Watkins and another of his scouts quickly passed their commander and took point positions.
K-man had a hard time thinking of these steps as ladders, although that was what they should technically be called on a ship. They were broad, with a much smaller drop than ladders on any Earth Force vessel.
Five decks lower they ended and opened into a large room with a high ceiling.
“At least twenty hostiles,” Watkins said. “Some are in the open as decoys.”
He motioned to a group near the far wall who were not utilizing cover near as well as they should have.
“Yeah, I count six on the starboard and eight on the port,” said K-man after a quick glance.
He must have been spotted by one of the Otina, because the hot zing of their energy weapons echoed around the group of human troops as they moved into cover at the bottom of the stairs.
“Smoke grenades?” Lippor asked.
K-man was about to give the affirmative when the bulkhead in front of him melted away.
“Flanks,” he yelled as he headed to his right. He heard the pounding of the boots behind him as his team assaulted the dug in positions of the Otina soldiers.
The pop of the human weapons and the zing of the Otina weapons were overwhelming. The chaos ended a few seconds later and K-man looked around.
“Report,” he said.
“Sanders bought it and Giles is wounded,” Watkins answered.
“Can Giles move?” K-man asked.
“Yeah, and he can still shoot he says.”
“Then we keep moving.”
“What happened, Colonel?” Lippor asked.
“They figured out how to use mosar weapons against us,” said K-man. “Clever, really. They took away our cover.”
“Why haven’t they done that before?” Watkins asked.
“I don’t know. Maybe they never wanted to harm their own ships or compounds before and they figure this ship is a lost cause. Or maybe they never thought of it,” K-man said. “In any case, we need to keep moving. We have got to get Warlord Jii.”
The men nodded and started to move through the door Watkins picked. Watkins was born to be a scout. He could look at a map once and be completely oriented no matter how many twists and turns were thrown in front of him. K-man let him pick the path toward the Otina command section. There they would meet up with bravo team and be able to assault the bridge.
Several minutes passed before K-man checked in again.
“Base, this is alpha. What is happening with bravo?”
“We lost contact with them. They were heading into a fire fight. Haven’t got a signal since then.”
“What do you mean you don’t have a signal?” K-man asked.
“It just disappeared,” Reynolds replied. “Like it’s being jammed.”
“Where were they last?” K-man said.
“About four hundred meters thirty-five degrees from your position, two levels above you.”
“How close to the bridge?”
“They were between seventy-five to eighty meters away,” Reynolds said.
“We are heading that way, base.”
K-man motioned Watkins to pick the path for them and they moved quickly down another corridor.
“Sir, I am picking up a lot of radiation ahead,” Lippor said.
K-man stopped the team. “Base, we are getting a large radiation reading. Do you see that?”
“No, alpha. We are reading normal.”
“Check again, base. I’ve pulled up Lippor’s scan on my visor and the levels are off the chart. In fact, I would like to pull my team back a ways.”
“Again, alpha, everything looks good from up here.”
“Can you get any reading, base?”
“Hold on. Nothing’s changed since the start.”
K-man motioned Watkins to take the team back the way they came.
“There is the problem, base. If bravo went into the area, there would be something going on in the area.”
“Let me check something, alpha. Hold on.”
K-man nodded to Lippor. The sergeant had saved them twice today already.
“Alpha, this is base. We just pulled up an infrared visual of the ship and it is very hot just ahead of you. They must be spoofing data to lead our teams into that inferno. Back out. We will have a new target set soon.”
“Roger base,” K-man said. He switched his comm to a private channel for his team.
“Lippor, pull up a scan of the area and send it to me and Watkins. Base can confirm, but I want an idea of our surroundings.”
K-man looked at the schematic that Lippor’s sensors created. The area that seemed to be the bridge was too wide open and massive to be a control center.
“There,” Watkins said. “If I were to set up a control station it would be there. Easy access for day to d
ay use, a couple of good choke points for a security situation.”
K-man looked closer at where Watkins had indicated. It was a good choice.
“Lippor, send base our target. They can confirm while we are moving. Let’s go see if there is a rabbit down that hole.”
Lippor sent the transmission as the others double checked their weapons.
“Sent, sir,” Lippor said.
K-man nodded to Watkins and the team moved out.
Rumbles and shudders shook the team as they made their way down several decks and through several more passageways. When they reached a closed door, Watkins motioned them back and he and another scout opened the door and slipped in.
The door suddenly snapped shut. A heavy jerk knocked K-man and several of his men to their knees and all went quiet.
One of the other scouts pressed the control button on the door panel and the door reopened. He slipped his head around the corner of the door and peered into the room.
“They’re gone, sir. Must have been a booby trap. The entire room looks like it has been scoured.”
K-man grimaced. Watkins was one of the best men in Earth Forces and a great soldier.
“Move in,” K-man said.
The rest of the team slipped into the door. K-man looked up at the ceiling and around at all of the walls. The room was perfectly round and except for the door on the far side, there was nothing in the room at all.
K-man took point and set himself by the control panel of the door. When his team was set, he opened the door and glanced in.
He jerked his head back as he saw several Otina with their weapons trained at the door. His neck was wrenched as he fell back into several of his men. When his vision cleared, he saw that his visor was shattered.
“Grenades?” one of his men asked.
“Do it,” he croaked out. “Lippor, how is atmo here?”
“Good, sir.”
K-man reached to his collar and detached his helmet. He felt someone lift it free from his head.
“Are you okay, sir?” Lippor asked.
“Yeah. Neck hurts but I didn’t feel anything pop.”
The grenades exploded and K-man saw a second set thrown in right after. His men weren’t taking chances at this point in the mission.
The hollow thump of an explosion in the distance hurried K-man to his feet.
“It’s clear,” one of the troops said. K-man thought it might be Walker, but he wasn’t sure. His ears were ringing pretty bad.
“Move in,” he ordered. After wearing his helmet in every engagement for almost a year, it felt odd to be running into danger with no protection for his head. He felt naked somehow.
A few shots from Earth Forces signaled the end of any resistance in the next room. A main door sat ahead of them and an open doorway was off to the right.
K-man motioned someone to check out the open doorway.
“Looks like a lab of some kind,” Lippor said. “Two doors.”
“Walker, keep an eye on that main door. Let’s check the lab first,” K-man said.
The lab had monitors and charts all over it. Two tables in the middle were covered in equipment, most of which seemed to have been tossed around by the fight that was ongoing.
K-man hunkered down in a defensive position as one of the doors in the lab was opened.
Two of his men slipped in and signaled that it was clear.
“You will want to see this, Colonel,” Genovese said.
K-man walked over to the open door and looked in. A blue glowing cylinder dominated the room.
“What is it?” Lippor asked.
“I have no idea. Get an image of it and send it to base,” K-man said.
A cabinet had been thrown open and items and equipment were strewn in front of it.
“Did anyone touch that?” K-man asked.
“No one has touched anything,” Genovese said. “It was like that when we came in.”
“Someone was in a hurry,” Lippor muttered.
“Let’s check the second room,” K-man said.
The humans went back into the lab.
“Sir. Base is saying that it is some sort of hibernation or cryo-tube. They aren’t quite for sure, but they want more images.”
“Okay, Lippor. Go get some more footage for them,” K-man said.
“Opening the door,” Genovese said.
K-man readied his rifle and slipped behind some cover.
The door slid open. K-man heard some movement inside what appeared to be a small, dim room.
Genovese and another of the soldiers moved in. There was no sound of gunfire, but the men didn’t give an all clear signal. K-man moved up to the door.
“Genovese, report,” he said as he stayed behind the corner of the door.
“I don’t know, yet, Colonel,” Genovese said. “Something is back here, but it’s behind a partition. Whatever it is, it is trying to hide.”
K-man walked carefully into the room. His two men were carefully positioned to have an advantage on whatever was behind the narrow partition that separated off a section of the room.
He understood his men’s hesitation. No Otina had ever tried to hide before. Most resisted even when surrender would seem to be the wisest option.
He motioned Genovese to advance. He pulled his rifle in line with the partition and waited.
His man slid around the edge of the thin wall and held still.
“It’s an alien, sir,” he said.
“Not an Otina?” K-man asked.
“No, sir. Not an Otina. What should I do?”
“Hold there, Genovese.”
K-man stepped over to where his man was and looked around the corner. There a figure cowered against the wall. He guessed the alien was about five foot six inches tall, taller than an Otina by six inches or so. Thin, and old. His skin was purple and blotched. It seemed as thin as aged parchment.
“Well, sir, what do we do?”
K-man’s first thought was that they needed to give Greenaway the biggest medal they could.
“Contact base. Tell them we need extraction. We have captured Warlord Jii.”
“What, sir?”
K-man trained his rifle on the alien who had stopped cowering and took a casual stance. The arrogance and irritation on Warlord Jii’s face was in sharp contrast to the fear and panic he seemed to exhibit just seconds before.
“Good for you,” he said to K-man. “I figured if I was ever captured by a primitive, it would be by a human.”
“Sir, he’s speaking English,” Genovese helpfully pointed out.
“Just make the call,” K-man said.
“You have me, I’ll go with you. But I want it understood. I will only speak to your Ambassador once you take me on your ship,” Jii said.
“You want me to guarantee that I will take you to the Ambassador? Not going to happen,” K-man said.
“Take me to him? Bah. You would be foolish to take me to Earth. No, you need to take me to the place you call Ellison station. No closer to Earth than that. And you need to get Kyle Martin out there. I’ll speak to him. No one else.”
“Extraction team is heading our way, sir,” Genovese said.
“How did you know I was who I am?” Jii asked.
“That’s classified,” K-man said.
Jii laughed. “Now that is a good answer. Ever wonder if you really wanted to know everything? What if nothing was classified to you?”
“Let’s move. We need to get to the extraction point.”
Jii stared at K-man. “Not much for philosophy, huh? Very well. You have the weapon and I’m just an old one with all of the answers. Take me where you want to go.”
K-man ordered his men to form up around their prisoner. It was very disconcerting to feel that Jii was still in charge of his ship.
Chapter 20
“27… 28… 29… 30,” Alex counted. He let go of Hopkins’ feet as the sergeant dropped onto his back. His breathing was labored and he was red in the face.
&
nbsp; “Come on Hopkins, we need to do some lunges now.” Alex tried to pull Hopkins to his feet, but the exhausted man fought him off.
“No… No more. Just let me die here,” he panted.
“Come on, man. If they find us dead, at least we’ll look good,” Alex said.
Hopkins rolled over on his side and staggered to his feet. “I have had many goals in my life, Gunny. Leaving a good looking corpse has never been on the list.”
“How did you get through basic?” Alex chided.
“That was twelve years ago, and I had this little thing called caffeine to help me over the wall.”
“Exercise will keep your mind sharp. If more Otina show up, you need to be at peak physical and mental condition.”
“You suck, Gunny.”
“That’s the spirit, Hopkins! Now how about ten lunges.”
“Okay. Ten.”
“Each side.”
Hopkins groaned as Alex started counting off the lunges that would wrap up this series of exercises.
Manny and Levin watched the two humans go through their workout while Davison watched the monitor.
“I’m exhausted just watching what you are doing,” Levin said. “Why didn’t you exercise like this when we were all in the holding area?”
“Alex did,” Manny said. “He just did it in one of the rooms. He has exercised almost every day since I’ve met him. Even when he took me to see his cabin on vacation, he still did daily exercises.”
“Does it really help their minds remain sharp?” Levin asked.
“Alex believes it does. He says that he can think clearer and act faster when he is at his physical peak.”
Alex finished counting off the lunges and Hopkins collapsed on the floor.
“Come on, man. Let’s walk it out. You’ll cramp up if you don’t warm down right,” Alex said.
Hopkins said something, but it was muffled and Alex was pretty sure he was glad he couldn’t understand it. He walked over to Davison and looked at the monitor.
“Anything out of the ordinary?” he asked.
The Pelod shook his head. “No, the static hasn’t changed.”
A few days after the transport ship was destroyed as the other humans attempted their escape, a couple of Otina scout ships arrived and attempted to land at the base. The automatic weapon systems fired on them, and in turn they blasted the compound before retreating.
